EDMONTON — The Alberta government on Wednesday formally unveiled the Alberta Provincial Police Service (APPS), a new agency that will replace the RCMP as the province's primary police force in rural communities by 2028. The agency, officials confirmed, will have all of the powers of the RCMP, all of the funding currently directed to the RCMP, all of the equipment currently used by the RCMP, and most of the personnel — but will report, ultimately, to the Premier's office.

"This is about local accountability," said Justice Minister Mickey Amery, in a press conference held in front of a banner that read Albertans Policing Albertans. The banner was not asked to clarify which Albertans, in which direction.

The change, the Minister said, would deliver more responsive policing, deeper community ties, and lower costs, the latter being a claim that contradicts every actuarial assessment the province has commissioned on the topic, including the four that the government has paid for and then declined to release.

Pressed on what was meaningfully different between the new APPS and the RCMP it replaces, the Minister identified three distinctions: the uniform colour scheme, the agency name, and the chain of command. He acknowledged, in response to follow-up, that the uniform and name were "branding" but said the chain of command represented "a fundamental difference in democratic accountability."

The chain of command, in the legislation, runs from front-line officers through detachment commanders, through regional superintendents, through a Chief Constable appointed by Cabinet, to the Justice Minister, who reports to the Premier. The Premier's office has not yet articulated what democratic accountability looks like in the new structure, but has emphasized that it is real and forthcoming.

The Assembly of Treaty Chiefs, which has criticized previous consultation on policing files, issued a statement noting that the announcement had been made without notice to the assembly, and that the assembly intended to oppose the rollout in every available forum. The Justice Minister, asked about this, said the government remained "open to dialogue," then concluded the press conference.

Constitutional scholars noted that the new agency, if rolled out as legislated, will represent the largest restructuring of Canadian policing in living memory, undertaken in a province where the question of whether the previous structure was actually broken has not been definitively answered. The Premier's office said the question was "outdated," and that "Albertans had spoken." The most recent polling indicates approximately 31 percent of Albertans support the change.